The Maple Leafs have the weekend off — a rarity in this condensed NHL season — and while most of the players will take time to rest and heal minor aches and pains, this respite can’t be a comfortable one for defencemen John-Michael Liles and Mike Komisarek.

Both have been healthy scratches the past several games, and both are facing daunting scenario’s regarding their next opportunity to get back into game action.

The nutshell story with the two veteran defenders does not centre on their high-end salaries. In fact, the Leafs are showing no hesitation in scratching those rich salaries in favour of lower-priced veterans or promising youth, which happen to fit more better into coach Randy Carlyle’s plans.

Liles and Komisarek do provide valuable leadership and experience on a Leaf team that will need all of that in March, when the schedule throws Boston at the Leafs three times and the Penguins twice.

And while buyouts are mentioned in talk about both players, buyouts may not actually be the smartest option.

Komisarek enters next season on the final year of his deal while Liles has three more years remaining.

Under the new CBA, teams have two compliance buyouts that won’t count against the cap. Teams have nine months to use those compliance buyouts from the date the CBA took effect.

The Leafs may be best served by trading either player, though Komisarek has a limited no-movement clause in his contract. He was required before the season began to supply to the Leafs a list of teams to which he’d accept a trade.

So Liles and Komisarek remain in a playing limbo — they have fallen to the bottom of the NHL depth chart, and they create a log jam at the NHL level which makes it difficult for the organization to take a look at younger players like Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly.

The Leafs are certainly in line to have a look at Gardiner and Rielly.

Gardiner, for instance, has played well for the Marlies and appears on the cusp of returning to the NHL. There’s talk around the club that Gardiner will return to the Leafs this month, but there is also the belief he is best served for now by playing major minutes in the American Hockey League.

Rielly, meanwhile, is arguably the most interesting piece for the Leafs.

Rielly’s Moose Jaw Warriors are a long-shot to make the playoffs and if they don’t, he stands to see his season extended with games in Toronto, either with the Marlies or the Leafs.

Once again, there is a numbers problem at the NHL level. One solution could see Toronto return Korbinian Holzer to the minors, but that is a step backward the Leafs do not want to take. Holzer, though, is the only defenceman on the Leafs who does not require waivers to be sent back to the AHL.

Moving forward, both Gardiner and Rielly should be a part of the Leafs’ blueline next season — if not sooner — which only limits the opportunities in Toronto for Liles and Komisarek.

To the veterans’ credit, neither has complained a single word in public.

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